


One Word

by jeneru



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Reader-Insert, Sorry Not Sorry, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:41:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2053995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeneru/pseuds/jeneru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One word. That’s all he needed to hear from you.</p><p>Same work posted in my DA account:<br/>http://jeneru.deviantart.com/</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Word

"Are you done with your paperwork?"

**_"Yes."_ **

"Does anything hurt?"

**_"No"_ **

"You ran after Hanji to chase the 10-meter class without back up? Are you fucking insane?!"

**_"Maybe."_ **

You have always been like this, at least ever since he met you. Your lackadaisical response to everything thrown at you, from questions to even compliments, have even earned you a spot above the Corporal himself in terms of laconism.

But nevertheless, what fails to leave your lips had always found its way through your actions - like that time he finds you brush your fingers through some cadet’s hair to soothe the homesick recruit, or rub a distressed soldier’s back as he empty his stomach’s contents on the pavement upon his first gruesome encounter. 

It is when he realized that what he deemed indifference at first impression is just your way of focusing yourself on what you deem as a more important matter: your fellow soldiers, your comrades.

And within that same ground, it has been no wonder that despite your occasional aloofness, you soon find yourself surrounded by companions, Hanji being the most persistent, as well as followers that eventually placed you among the respected ranks - all of which, you seem to acknowledge with not more than a nod or if luck permits, a reserved smile on your lips.

Not long after that did he find himself within your same circle, and eventually, so did you, at his side.

Oh how you surprised, more so impressed him, that one night he witnessed you taught some drunken asshole of a police a lesson worth his lifetime with the heel of your boot - all done in silence save the sound of breaking bones and tooth skidding across the stone. All of which, you did because of an insult directed to what the man referred to as a crazy bunch of suicidal soldiers known as the Scouting Legion.

And seeing your collected demeanor after the deed, accompanied by Hanji’s giggling somehow made him think that the poor asshole did have a point.

Ironically, he discovers your rather gentle side when, despite his utter reluctance and fair amount of warning from others, you single-handedly took care of Hanji when she went down with a flu - after the poor Moblit caught the illness himself. You even managed to drag him into cleaning her notorious laboratory, which you’ve suspected as the source of the virus, convincing him with nothing more than your stolid ’Please’.

Even the hot-tempered Jaeger brat finds solace in the company of your silence along with your jar of assorted sweets, which not once did he find empty in its spot on your desk.

Soon enough, though he hates to admit it, he too finds himself in the same disposition as the brat, sometimes more often than it should. And before he knew it, what started as random visits grew into a routine, the usual excuse of escaping the scientist’s antics turned into a silent impulse of simply seeing you. He let this went on, until he felt that the comfort which he seeks can no longer be filled by just the cushions of your couch.

Likewise, his lingering gazes didn’t fail to send its intended message across your desk. It didn’t took long until it pierced thru your barrier, and later on he will note how you sometimes shift uncomfortably in your seat during his ’random’ visits. And as expected of you, you never asked him about this newfound hobby. You’d just simply acknowledge him with a nod, sometimes with a raised brow when he shows up during unexpected hours of the night, and carry on with your administrative duties amidst the pair of steel blue-grey eyes watching your every move.

He would then conclude that what Hanji said about some scientific law - where opposites attract is also true in terms of human relationships - excludes the two of you as he finds himself moving closer towards you. He had leveled up from his usual spot on the couch to claiming the seat across your desk. You in turn, after a few months, finally decided to get back at his advances, disarming him with your ’accidental’ touches ranging from the tips of your fingers brushing the back of his hand as he hands you your paperwork or the side of your chest grazing his arm when you reach for food on his side of the table. This silent tension between the two of you went on until it drove a doting Hanji to the edge of frustration.

It took an invitation, a connivance, and considerable amount of wine to get the two of you together, much to Hanji’s delight.

Though the Corporal didn’t get drunk himself, you on the other hand turned out to have a low alcohol tolerance. You ended up confessing to him that night, and despite his initial doubt on your liquor-induced revelation, he took every word you said to his heart and you, to his bed.

You were on your most speechless state, he thought, on the morning that followed.

For him however, it was a turning point in his life.

You became his world.

He became your reason, your strength, your everything.

Albeit keeping your relationship hidden, save your closest companions, this did not hinder the both of you from keeping the intimate attachment. Affection is always expressed be it through knowing glances, quiet afternoons of tea and sweets or heated rendezvous at each other’s quarters.

And how you amuse him with words and sometimes curses only he can elicit from you during your nights together. But most of all, it was that precious smile of yours that greets him the morning after that makes him feel like the most special and selfish person in the world - all at the same time - because he’s not willing to share it with anyone else.

**_"I love you"_ **

You whispered to him one night as you share warmth at each other’s embrace. Only three words, and perhaps the most words you can muster in your sober state, and yet it’s all that was needed to shatter the last wall of his defenses. You’ve completely took over his entire being and he no longer cares.

He no longer cares about his past, nor yours, which he had heard from you in bits and pieces during your private moments. He only cares about the present, your fingers intertwined with his, his lips against yours and your warmth wrapped around his soul. And never had he cared more about the future, as he treat every slash at the titans' napes a step forward to a normal life with you - a life free of titans, in a simple house, a family with you on his side as his wife and mother to his children.

**_But the world is indeed cruel._ **

He should have known that somewhere beneath that comforting silence he had grown accustomed to, something went wrong.

It’s been three weeks ever since that expedition. Three weeks since he found you sitting on the pavement, covered in blood that wouldn’t dissipate as you stare blankly at the lifeless soldier underneath your grasp. Despite being unharmed, much to his relief, what he failed to notice is how that fateful incident had scarred you in such a way that no amount of consolation or passage of time can heal.

Besides, you were back on your feet just after a few days, although with a few lapses which he respected as your own way of coping from grief. There were nights that you’ll quietly sob against his chest while he soothe you with chaste kisses and comforting words. But you’ll assure him the following day as he watch you wake up and move on with your duties in your usual manner.

**_Everything is temporary._ **

Seeing you on that chair - lifeless eyes staring at the window, unmoving as if you’re no longer breathing - made him realize his mistake too late.

The empty jar on your desk.  
The extended hours you spend at your office.  
The empty space in your side of his bed.

He should have pressed further.  
He should have asked you and demanded for answers.  
He should have held you even if you don’t want him to.

**_He could have saved you._ **

Because when Hanji came rapping at his door when she cannot summon you out of your room, he never imagined that his last memory of your voice -

will be the sound of your hysterical crying.

And by the time he had managed to calm you down, he knew that you were never the same.

You had left. You were gone to a place where even he - humanity’s strongest - can no longer reach.

"[y/n]! [y/n]! Fuck! Don’t do this to me! Please [y/n]! Dammit! Wake up!"

He was trembling, eyes blurry from trying to hold back his tears as it become rivulets on your pale face. Your skin soaked and cold against his after he pulled you out of that damned tub. He could feel Hanji’s grip tightening on his shoulder, telling him that it’s too late, that you’re already gone, but he refuse to believe her. He held you tighter, frantically searching for your heartbeat against his. And when he closed his eyes, he found himself pleading to whatever god there is to give him a sign - that you’re still there

**_that his world hasn’t ended yet_ **

One word. That’s all he needed to hear from you.

But your lips moved no more.

**Author's Note:**

> Rivaille/Levi Ackerman belongs to the ever awesome Mr. Hajime Isayama  
> Story belongs to me.
> 
> ~And here's your tissue


End file.
